Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1887-01-27

arms folded and the corners of his dark
eyes watching every thing. There was
no reason that the Baron should die be-
cause the mirror fell, he said. 1t was
all nonsense. He was the only man in
the village who disbelieved in the omen
of the Schwartzberg Castle.
When the notary passed-the old man
with long white hair-he bowed to
Hartmann. 1t was queer thing that
the notary always bowed TO Hartmann,
the working man; sometimes Hartmann
even went to supper with him, which
was queer thing still.
II.
Up at the mountain castle the long
tapestried drawing room was dimly
lighted, and the great, round, broken
mirror lay untouched upon the floor.
The granddaughter Of the Baron was
there with friend from Geneva, the
young lawyer, Ludwig Schmidt-a
friend, and more than a friend. Bertha
was in the first blush and beauty of
girlhood, fair and pink, with soft blue
German eyes, and curls too rich to be
flaxen. She was letting Ludwig cut
one little curl, with her pretty head
bent for the robbery. The shadow of
death doomed over her home again,
while she was still wearing mourning
gown for her boy brother; so, though
they were lovers, even to the sweet
folly of giving a love-lock. they could
not be very light-hearted tonight.
'sAnd why not have the broken mir
ror taken away?" the young lawyer of
Leipsic asked. There is no room for
superstition in the legal and logical
mind.
1T is ill-luck for whoever touches
it," said Bertha, with blush; but she
could not get him to believe such fool
ishness. He put the love-lOck in the in
nermost recess of his pocketbook, and
then, with his own hands, gathered the
ruins of the mirror on to table and
rang for a servant to take them away
out of everybody's sight
"You picked them up, sir?' said the
servant nervously.
81 did," said Ludwig, with laugh.
''There's no fear of ill-luck for you, my
good fellow, you are so cautious"
at would have been wise, sir, to
have left it as it fell until after the
change of the Moon
Ludwig gave a growl of contempt.
'My good man, would not be such Il
mOonstruck lunatic. Take the pieces
away"
Bertha admired him more than ever,
as every girl admires q brave man. 1t
seemed such daring deed to be the
one to pick up that mirror, she mistook
his common sense for bravery.
Your grandfather is dying of sheer
fright, the young man went on, step
ping out on the terrace and leading the
girl with him. 1.-The omen will come
true if the fear of it kills him.
"But, dear Ludwig" said the girl,
leaning on the balustrade, and feeling
helplessly ignorant as she looked up at
her wise lover, and loved him the more
for mans superior wisdom, ''we
should all like not to believe in the
omen; but what could have knocked
the mirror downP"
1t was indeed puzzling. The nails
that had held that mirror were as long
as mans hand. They had been buried
in the wall like shafts of iron, and out
of the wall they had dragged them
selves, after being for fifty years safe
and firm. Bertha herself had been in
the drawing room singing GounOd' S
"Serenade," with her fiance leaning
against the piano watching the light
from the candles making halo about
her fair hair, and the old Baron was
doing in his chair with the dog at his
feet, when all at once, with no hand
near it, the great mirror had dragged
its nails out of the opposite wall and
crashed down upon the floor. The dog
had howled and parked, the servants
had rushed in, and in the midst of the
confusion the old mans voice had said
with tremble:
'.My hour has comer'
His strength had failed; he had bee n
confined to his room; he was dying.
When Ludwig and Bertha walked
along the terrace they hushed their
on than the old drawing room.
He is awake again." said Ludwig,
looking into the curtained gloom. $50
to him, Bertha, if you like. and can
have a smoke in the garden. Youmight
ask him about the will"
''But don't want him to die, Lud-
wig
my poor little Bertha, what strange
things they have taught youi He won't
die moment sooner because he makes
a will. 1t is the right thing to do"
Whatever Ludwig said was right, was
Supremacy right always to the lonely,
half taught girl; so as she sat beside
the death-bed that evening she tenderly
and gently coaXed the old man to have
his last wishes written down. Ludwig